Helicopter crash kills 3 in area of Peru quake

The accident, which occurred on the outskirts of this wind-blown town, 580 miles south of the Peruvian capital of Lima, also injured the helicopter pilot and left another passenger badly burned, said Moquegua Mayor Dante Zubia.

The earthquake's death toll rose slightly Thursday to 115, with another 55 missing and more than 1,500 injured.

Arms-smuggling charges sought against ex-leader

BUENOS, Argentina -- Federal prosecutor Carlos Stornelli formally requested that former President Carlos Saul Menem be charged in a scheme to smuggle arms to Croatia and Ecuador from 1989 to 1999.

Judge Jorge Urso, who ordered Menem's house arrest, will decide whether to charge him -- the equivalent of an indictment in Argentina -- in the next two weeks.

Colombia seeks to keep America Cup tourney

BOGOTA, Colombia -- A soccer official whose kidnapping brought calls to move the America Cup tournament out of Colombia will participate in a last-ditch effort to keep the event there.

Hernan Mejia, freed Thursday by presumed leftist guerrillas, will travel to Argentina today with other Colombian soccer officials to ask event organizers not to take away South America's largest soccer event, said Alvaro Fina, president of the Colombian Soccer Federation.

Fina said a meeting is set Saturday in Buenos Aires by the South American Soccer Confederation to make a determination about whether to move the 12-nation tournament, scheduled July 11-29.

Spanish general injured in bombing near home

MADRID, Spain -- A Spanish general was wounded when a bomb, placed in a backpack on a bicycle outside his home in central Madrid, exploded as he walked to his garage during the morning rush hour.

The attack, which the authorities blamed on the Basque separatist group ETA, injured 15 people.

Gen. Justo Oreja Pedraza, 62, had left his apartment on a busy street in the Salamanca district about 8:30 a.m. and was going to meet his driver when an 8-pound bomb on a mountain bicycle was detonated, apparently by remote control. The general had head injuries and burns over half of his body, officials said.

Lions maul, kill keeper who left their cage open

MATAPOZUELOS, Spain -- Four lions attacked and killed their zookeeper Thursday after he accidentally left their cage door ajar, the national news agency reported.

The animals, each weighing about 200 pounds, mauled Roberto Izquierdo Martin, 25, as he was preparing to transfer them from their cage to the exhibition pen at the Walvo Zoological Park, according to the news agency Efe.

Zookeepers sedated the animals in order to recover the body of their colleague.

Amparo Fernandez, a representative of the company that runs the zoo, was quoted as saying the lions are believed to have escaped through a gate that had not been properly shut by the victim.

Sweden joins 35 nations to support court treaty

STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- Sweden became the 36th nation to ratify the treaty of the International Criminal Court. Sixty ratifications of the pact are needed for the court to begin functioning.

Other European countries are likely to follow Sweden, which holds the presidency of the European Union. The Bush administration says it will never support the court.